Air Canada plans to cancel flights before a potential strike. Here’s what you may be entitled to

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Air Canada is set to begin pre-emptively cancelling flights ahead of a Saturday deadline for a potential strike, throwing a wrench into travel plans, connecting flights and long-awaited summer excursions. It also raises the question of whether passengers are owed more than just refunds and rebooking onto alternative flights.

The union representing 10,000 Air Canada flight attendants issued a 72-hour strike notice on Wednesday. The airline responded with a lockout notice shortly thereafter.

Air Canada also stated that it would gradually cancel flights leading up to the strike deadline this weekend, with the first flights cancelled Thursday and more on Friday.

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Air Canada to start cancelling flights ahead of possible flight attendant strike. Here’s what you need to know

Under Canada’s air passenger protection rules, strikes are considered situations outside of the carrier’s control, which means passengers are entitled to refunds or rebooking but not compensation for the inconvenience.

But there’s a difference if the airline cancels a flight before a strike begins.

This “may be considered within the airline’s control, depending on the timing of the cancellation,” said Yahia Belhaddad, a lawyer at Lambert Avocats in Montreal who specializes in aviation law.

In such cases, the passenger could be entitled to claim compensation depending on whether an airline can demonstrate how a strike directly affected their specific flight, he said.

In practice, though, aviation law decisions are judged based on the information available at the time and whether something was reasonably foreseeable, said Ehsan Monfared, partner at YYZ Law in Toronto.

He gave the hypothetical example of Air Canada cancelling flights over a tsunami warning. While the disaster might not materialize, he said, any court or tribunal would weigh whether the airline’s determination was reasonable given the information it had at the time.

The case law around these types of disputes remains scarce, but a July 2024 ruling suggests one possibility.

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In Boyd v. WestJet Airlines Ltd., the BC Civil Resolution Tribunal found that the airline’s 72-hour strike notice qualified as a “labour disruption” and that the term should not be interpreted only to mean an active strike.

The decision is currently under judicial review after a petition by Air Passenger Rights, an advocacy group.

Gabor Lukacs, the group’s president, said the decision misinterpreted the law. He said Air Canada’s pre-emptive flight cancellations are a “business decision” – not outside the airline’s control.

He said the rules protecting air passengers grant them the choice between a free rebooking or a refund within 30 days, plus $400 compensation if affected by a pre-emptive cancellation.

One thing is certain: For passengers who experience flight cancellations because of a strike, the airline must give them the choice between a refund or rebooking them free of charge on the next available flight, YYZ Law’s Bill Clark said.

The new flight can be from the same carrier or a carrier with which Air Canada has a commercial agreement, but it must depart within 48 hours, Mr. Clark said.

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If these options aren’t available, a large carrier such as Air Canada must rebook the passenger on the next available flight from any carrier – even a competitor – or offer a full refund processed within 30 days.

Of course, many passengers with urgent travel plans, connecting flights or non-refundable cruises don’t have time to sit around waiting for a rebooking and may want to take matters into their own hands.

“It’s consistent with the obligation of Air Canada to provide completion of the travel itinerary that’s there,” Mr. Monfared said. But it’s not always the case that Air Canada will agree to it, and passengers are unlikely to get timely recourse from the Canadian Transportation Agency, whose backlog reached 87,000 complaints earlier this year.

“Somebody has to be prepared to basically take that [complaint] to small claims court, and most people aren’t,” Mr. Monfared said, pointing to a surging backlog of aviation-related complaint cases.

Experts advise against pre-emptively cancelling your ticket, as it may get airlines off the hook from their responsibility for refunds and rebookings.

If a passenger chooses to cancel their own travel because of concern about a potential strike, rules do not require the airline to provide a refund or alternate travel. It becomes up to the airline’s discretion and policies.

That said, Mr. Monfared said passengers who find an alternate travel arrangement and are in contact with Air Canada should show the representative the available travel booking.

“Having that information ready will possibly make it a little bit easier for Air Canada to be able to help the passenger,” Mr. Monfared said.

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If an Air Canada rep makes a promise to reimburse a travel booking at a later time, passengers should always maintain a record of this – emails, receipts, recordings – as internal systems often issue a different decision from what the representative has stated.

Those with travel insurance policies that cover trip disruptions and list a strike as a covered reason may be reimbursed for prepaid travel costs that Air Canada or other providers won’t refund – but it’s important to check the “known event” date.

Air Canada travellers who purchased an individual trip cancellation and interruption policy before Aug. 2 are generally protected if the strike prevents them from reaching their destination, said Martin Firestone of Travel Secure, a travel insurance specialist. Group benefit plans generally do not include cancellation interruption.

The few choices for passengers in this scenario point to a broken passenger protection system, Mr. Monfared said.

“It doesn’t actually compensate passengers in a proper, responsive, meaningful way ... and it does nothing to make air travel more on time, more predictable or efficient.”